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2017 is a pretty big year. Both me and Russia are marking big anniversaries. I celebrated a significant birthday, and Russia marked the centenary of the 1917 Revolution. So, you know, basically the same. I decided, ‘why not “celebrate” both’?! St Petersburg and Moscow were both places I’ve always wanted to visit, but they’re both a little more special (and distant) than a typical European city break / weekend-away, so it seemed ideal to combine the two anniversaries!

I was lucky enough to go to the press launch of the new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum today – it’s called Opera: Passion, Power and Politics and officially opens this Saturday 30th September. The way the exhibition is structured is around 7 different operas and 7 cities, and the relationship between each – so, absolutely perfect for this blog about music and travel. I don’t think I can claim this is a review but I can share some thoughts about my visit. Continue reading →

I’m playing in Mahler 9 in a concert soon, and am fortunately sitting next to a fellow Mahler nut (the rest of our section have yet to be converted, and I’m guessing the difficulty of playing the music won’t do much to help the cause). We’ve been chatting about our love for Mahler in rehearsals, and he’s the first person I’ve met who was as excited about seeing Mahler’s hat as I was! Continue reading →